The United States welcomed recent steps by the European Union to hold Russia responsible for aggression against Ukraine, US Deputy Spokesperson Robert Palladino stated on the US State Department website on Sunday, December 16. Washington supports the resolution of the European Parliament calling for the cancellation of the Nord Stream 2 project.

“The European Parliament’s December 12 resolution reiterates the importance of Ukraine’s role in the European energy supply network and condemns the …

Russia has asked China to take part in negotiations on Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, reported Nikkei, citing sources familiar with the situation.

According to the news agency, the proposal was given in October, and “apparently, Beijing did not reject this idea.”

A source close to the Russian government told the agency that Russian president Vladimir Putin might have touched on the topic of inviting China to the negotiations in a short conversation with US President Donald Trump in …

Vladimir Putin has promised to investigate the opening of a new venue of the Canadian circus, Cirque du Soleil, in the Skolkovo Center in Moscow.

While speaking at a council session, Edgard Zapashny, director of the Great Moscow Circus, drew the president’s attention to the fact that a stationary venue of the Cirque du Soleil is to be opened in the Skolkovo Center in 2019. The artist considers this “unacceptable” because he fears it will negatively affect the Russian circus and Russian sport. …

According to the Dutch Broadcasting Foundation NOS, the Dutch government plans to increase defense spending next year at NATO’s insistence. The exact amount of the increase will be announced in the spring. Current information only reveals that the Netherlands will purchase more tanks and fighter jets.

The Netherlands’s militarization priorities include an investment in fifteen F-35 fighters in addition to the already agreed 37 aircraft, strengthening land and sea forces, and increased …